Family Ties
by LetsWriteNow
Summary: No child should go with out the love of a family, even a female clone of a half-ghost super hero. When Dani has a chance to experience what it is like to have a family she take it. Little dose she know, being excepted as a daughter and a sister will bring unexpected adventures. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

**Here is the beta-ed ****version! Yay! To those of you who don't know this is newest story and has NO connection to "When Odd Days Happen" outside that they are both in the same crossover section. Anyway everyone say thanks to my wonderful beta for looking threw this for me and I hope to have more something for you all soon. Oh right some editing of chapter 2 will happen within the near future so please be patient with me. Out side of that please review and have a good day!**

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Mr. and Mrs. Granger found themselves in a place that they never thought they would ever have to visit: Child Services. The never thought that because they were by all accounts good understanding parents. They even accepted the fact that magic was real and that there daughter was in fact a Witch and was sent off to a magical school of all things earlier that year. Luckily for them they weren't there for any personal transgressions against their daughter. They were there because an old friend had called, telling them to come over without really explaining much.

The same old friend was currently exiting the building to greet them. "Elsa! William! It's good to see you two!" she greeted the couple.

"It's good to see you too, Amy." Mrs. Granger, Elsa, greeted back. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Right. Sorry about the short call, I was really busy when I made it." Amy replied slightly embarrassed. "Anyway let's get inside, looks like it might start to rain."

Once inside Amy led them through several hallways before reaching her office. "Here we are, please take a seat." Once the Grangers did took a seat Amy started her explanation. "I have a favor to ask you two." she paused unsure how to say what needs to be said. "Um. You two are great parents, I mean Hermione's such a sweet heart and all… um… would you mind taking in a little girl?"

Caught completely off guard William replied, "Excuse me?"

"I know!" Amy replied knowing how absurd the request sounded. "Normally I wouldn't ask something like this from you, but... Look!" she quickly pulled a file from her desk and opening it for the couple. "This is Danielle Fenton." she said pointing to a picture of a young girl with black hair, blue eyes and couldn't be more than twelve.

Quickly reading over the file Mr. Granger asked, "Why doesn't it say her birthdate?" Noticing one of many blank spots in her profile.

"We don't know. Hell, even she doesn't know." Amy answered before continuing. "We think she's American, because of her accent, but we still couldn't find a birth certificate even after asking the American embassy for some help. The poor dear is a ghost."

"I hate to sound uncaring." Mrs. Granger started. "But why come to us? Why not take her to an orphanage or another family?"

Grimacing a bit, Amy replied. "Well. That's a bit of long story." Noting that the couple still wanted an explanation she relented. "It was hard enough to get her to stay put. She got away from us five times in the week we've had her in custody, and only recently have I got her to trust me." Scratching her cheek slightly embarrassed she continued, "Somehow she got me to promise that if I have to find her a family to go to that it would be a family that I personally trusted, and that would be you guys."

Trying to lay on the charm Amy continued, "Besides. I thought you two wanted more kids. And Hermione would probably appreciate a younger sister."

Raising an eye brow William asked, "Are you trying to get us to adopt her?"

Realizing that she may have overstepped her bounds Amy quickly back peddled, "No!" Then admitted with little shame, "At least not right away." Seeing there pointed looks Amy decided to play her last card, she begged. "Come on, Please. She's a real sweet heart that doesn't know what it's like to have a family. I think she deserves a chance at least."

Finding their social worker friend act like this was amusing for both William and Elsa, but they also knew they need to discuss this with each other. Excusing themselves form their friend's office they had their much needed discussion in the hall way in hush tones.

"What are your thoughts love?" William asked his wife.

"Frankly, I don't know." Elsa replied. "Amy is pretty desperate, and I do sympathies with the child's story."

Nodding William replied, "Or lack-there-of. But sad none the less."

"William? Do you think we should actually take her in?"

"I don't know." he replied. "We have talked about trying for another."

"But the doctors said that I might not be able to get pregnant again." Elsa commented. "Maybe this is a sign?"

"Maybe." William replied. After a moment of both of them contemplating he broke the silence. "We would be changing a young girl's life for the better."

Nodding Elsa replied "It would be the only right thing to do. Besides, we have room, and Hermione would most likely love a sister."

"She absolutely would." William agreed.

Turning back to the office the couple opened the door to find Amy crouched behind it trying to listen in on their conversation. Quickly standing up and smoothing out her dress skirt Amy waited patiently for an answer with an obvious blush. Smiling, Elsa gave the answer her friend was waiting for. "We'll do it."

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Danielle "Dani" Fenton was not enjoying the ride through English suburbia with her social worker Amy. Frankly she had no idea how she got herself into this situation, albeit being found sleeping in a box certainly screamed "homeless child" pretty loud. That didn't explain how Amy and her colleague kept on finding her, she would fly away unseen then a hand full of hours later they would find her and drag her back to social services. Dani could appreciate the fact that Amy didn't want to put her into an orphanage, but the tenacity of the woman was even beyond that of most ghosts she knew. Finally Amy sat her down and talked. They didn't talk about anything really, they just talked. It was sometime during the talk that Danielle and Amy struck the deal that if Amy could find a truly trustworthy family Dani would stop running away.

Dani didn't ever think that a week and a half later she would be meeting her first foster family. "Nervous?" Amy asked from the driver's seat.

"Yeah." Dani murmured mentally acknowledging the understatement. This was an entirely new experience for her. Give her monstrous ghosts, crazy "fathers", and almost melting into goop any day. Meeting people who could possibly become her actual parents, without devious motives behind the act, she had no idea how to react. Sad part for her, she couldn't even think to break the promise. Dani figured it had something to do with Danny, her original. Maybe the hero complex was genetic? Even without the promise hanging over her head she had to admit she was curious. Curious on how it felt to have a family, people who would love her that weren't the boy she was cloned from. To be a normal girl, that was a completely foreign idea to the young half-ghost.

Dani was knocked out of her thoughts when Amy said, "We're here." Looking out of the car Dani saw that they were pulling up on a nice looking house with an average looking couple, her prospective parents, standing just outside of their door. She could see soft smiles on both of their faces. As Amy got out of the car to let her out (stupid child locks) Dani could only steel herself for whatever may come. To meet her new parents.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alrighty then! By popular demand coupled with a few threats to my well being, this story will be continued! On another note, the poll that will decide the fate of my first story "An Act of Remembrance" will be up until _Tomorrow!_ Be sure to vote last minute. Also this chapter is not beta-ed yet so be nice about spelling/grammar issues please. Don't forget to Review and enjoy the chapter!**

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It has been months since Dani was taken in by William and Elsa Granger. If she had to be frank with her self, living with a family was something she really didn't know what to feel about. A roof over her head was definitely nice, she even had her own room. The Grangers provided her with new fresh cloths so she could finally change out of that old sweatshirt and baggy pants combo. She couldn't forget the fact that she had access to hot showers every day which was a heaven sent gift in her eyes.

There were also some things that she wished she could go without, namely school. Not even a week after she moved in and got situated the Grangers enrolled her in a local school. It wasn't like she was having trouble with it, if there was one thing Vlad made sure to include when he made her was smarts. It was all part of the cloning process to implant knowledge so that they could function, sadly she was the only one stable enough for the implanting to stick. Dani figured she has about a early high school education, so the class she was assigned to was a tad on the easy side. Another thing about school was the people that went there as well. Apparently Danny's bully problem was also genetic. Within the months following her enrollment she had gotten into four fights, the streets taught her to be tough and she was never one to take any gruff. As it stood because of that she got suspended for a week and a talking to from William and Elsa.

In any case she was forced to practically promise not to get into anymore fights, so she took to just avoiding the oddly persistent bullies. She even used her powers to her advantage by turning invisible, slipping through walls, or even flying to the roof once. Over all she had an odd appreciation for her cousin now, him somehow surviving school and being a super hero all at once.

Another problem that wasn't really a problem was the fact that Dani didn't have a connection with the Grangers. It wasn't like they were bad people or anything, in fact they were some of the most understanding people Dani had ever met. Its more along the lines that she knows them as William and Elsa, not Mom and Dad. They were great people but Dani just didn't really see them as her parents, more like friends letting her stay over. Albeit, Dani did realize that the vital connection of parents and child will most likely develop after a longer period of time than a mere hand full of months.

As she lay there in her room starring at the ceiling these thoughts ran through her mind, and not for the first time. And like the other times, the thoughts brought more thoughts to the surface. If one of her more major problems is a connection with her prospective family, then why didn't she stay with Danny? And once again she answered that question. Whilst yes she did have an intimate relationship with Danny, who risked his life to help her twice now. Once from herself when she was still with Vlad, and the second time he saved her form being reduced to ectoplasmic slime. He was family to her, a older brother or, as weird as it was to admit, the closest thing to a father she ever really had. William was trying, but he was still just William. Sometimes she would imagine what it would be like if she had stayed with Danny after all. Danny would be her older brother, or "cousin" as they call each other, and he would make up some story for her for his parents so she could stay.

And that was why she left. Not because of the Fentons or anything, but because everything would be through Danny. She knew that being compared to others was annoying, especially to a older sibling and that would happen to her if only because Danny and her were so similar. She was engineered to be a exact copy of Danny with a few Fruit-loop approved tweaks. She wanted to find herself, to figure out what _she _didn't like, what _she_ enjoyed, who _she _was. As it stood she felt like she was still just a copy of Danny, that she has nothing that she could say was _her._ Her love for space comes from Danny. Her lack of regard for the rules came form Vlad's machinations. Heck even her _name_ was just the female version of "Daniel". Everything about her is just copied from Danny or made by Vlad. Her ghostly color scheme, her powers, her freaking transformation isn't even unique to her. She has the same powers as Danny to one degree or another and the energy control of Vlad. The only things that she could even begin to count towards what is _her_ is that she was technically weaker than Danny by a raw power stand point, and that she like yogurt. Why yogurt? In general it was cheep and good for her.

Dani sat up with a sigh once her thoughts started to get less focussed. That train of thought would come around in her head every week or so. She knew that it was dreadfully depressing, yet it also worked for her to confirm why she was there in the first place. Looking out of her window she saw that night had fallen while she was thinking and figured she could go for a quick flight around town, again something she got from Danny. She was about to act on the impulse when she spotted a calendar she hung in her room, another novelty she didn't have on the streets where she could've gone weeks without knowing the date. Marked in plain sight was something that Dani was extremely nervous about. Hermione was coming home in three days.

Dani didn't know what to think when she found out that she had a prospective sister until eventually she settled on nervous. The Grangers said that they already sent a letter to Hermione at her boarding school in scotland. As happy as she was that she wasn't going to be a complete surprise, she had a feeling that the first meeting will be extremely awkward. Dani was sure that Hermione would be nice enough, considering who her parents are, but Dani has minimal interactions with other people. On the streets a certain suspicion of people was considered healthy and at school she spent a lot of time avoiding bullies and has only managed to make acquaintances at best. In short Dani knew that not even a delusional person would call her a social butterfly. Not only that but she didn't know a lot about Hermione. The teachers at her school remembered her because she was supposedly extremely smart. William and Elsa didn't help in that regard ether. From pictures around the house showed a girl with long bushy hair and large front teeth.

The familiar feeling of nervous nausea put the idea of flying out of her mind. Besides, Dani reasoned, it was getting late and her last day of school before the summer break was the next day so she probably needed to sleep. Sadly her dreams were filled with visions of Hermione ranging her being a chittering nerd, a crippling shy girl, to an overly bossy demon with a superiority complex.

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"Those three days went by too fast."

"What was that Danielle?" asked William not catching Dani's mumbled words.

"Nothing." Dani replied surprised she spoke aloud. William and Dani were sitting in the living room waiting for Elsa and Hermione to come home. Dani was relieved that they weren't going to take her to Kings Cross Train Station to pick up and meet Hermione sparing her a awkward ride home. Her relief was short lived however because she was still going to meet the final member of the Granger family.

"Nervous?" William asked noticing Dani turning steadily green.

"That obvious?"

"Yes. Painfully so in fact." William closed the book he was reading to fully address Danielle. "There is nothing to be worried about. It may be a bit awkward at first, but I'm sure you two will get along swimmingly."

"Right." was all Dani could say. She still didn't know anything about her perspective sister outside what the Grangers had told her, and parents are obligatory required to be biased about their kids.

As the minutes ticked by Dani only got more stressed out, altho she hid it well. She was about ready to finally snap when the sound of a car pulling up alerted her that the moment she was waiting for had finally come. Despite herself Dani quickly tried to make herself more presentable despite having done so that morning. Not much she could really do with a T-shirt, jeans and socks.

Dani stilled as the front door opened. Time seemed to slow down as Elsa walked in first followed by a mass of frizzled hair dragging in a trunk that could only be Hermione.

Hermione paused upon seeing Dani. Thankfully Hermione took the initiative and broke the silence by walking forward and introducing her self. "Hello. I'm Hermione. You must be Danielle."

"Um. Yeah, but call me Dani, spelled with an 'I'." Dani said almost reflexively. Sadly the awkward silence returned after that. What were they suppose to talk about when they meet for the first time?

"Well now." Elsa said coming to the rescue "Hermione, why don't you go unpack?"

"Alright." Hermione replied silently relieved to not be there anymore. Dani couldn't blame her for leaving so quickly, the awkwardness was truly stifling.

"It'll get better." William said drawing Dani's attention.

"Right." Dani replied hoping that that was the case.

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As it turned out it did get better as far as the awkward moments were concerned. The jury was still out on whether that was a good thing in Dani's opinion. As they got used to each other they also started to learn each others quirks, like how Hermione was a strait laced know-it-all. Dani didn't even remember what it was, but Hermione corrected her about something in a way that rubbed Dani the wrong way. Hermione didn't approve of the fact that Dani was borderline a delinquent. Dani blamed the gossip crazed neighbors, yet it was still Hermione who saw it fit to give her a talking to about how she should find a better solution to her problems. To sum it up, for about a month Dani was steadily doubting whether or not she could live with the girl.

It wasn't just Hermione's personality that irked Dani, it was the fact that it seemed that the family was keeping a secret. Dani knew she shouldn't even be bothered by it with her own closet full of skeletons, yet her own experiences with liars and fruit-loops made her suspicious. It didn't help that Hermione and her parents sometimes had arguments that didn't really make sense. Like one time when Dani had woken up for some reason and overheard the Grangers having a hushed argument about how Hermione shouldn't take "the easy way" out of having to wear braces. It didn't make sense because Dani was pretty sure that there wasn't a easy way out of that. There was also Hermione's summer homework. She was extremely careful not to have Danielle see it; ever.

Yet even with all the bad there also came good. Hermione was a nice person when she wasn't correcting something or lecturing about right and wrong. It was evident that Hermione was trying to be a sisterly figure to Dani, and Dani appreciated the sentiment at least. But to Dani a sentiment was all it was, there just wasn't enough there for Dani to truly see the Grangers as family despite their efforts.

Worst of all, as more time past Dani continued to feel like an interloper. An intruder upon this normal family. An outsider looking in. She didn't truly know why she felt this way. Most likely the fact that their interactions with each other seemed so natural whilst Dani didn't know how to react to familial situations at all.

One day Dani took a quick stroll to a near by park in an attempt to organize her thoughts. She felt it was time to make a decision, whether to stay or to go. On one hand, it was painfully obvious that the Grangers were trying to be at the very least like family to her, and she liked them well enough. On the other hand, Dani still didn't see them as her parents and sister, and she wasn't sure if giving it time was the answer. At most she felt that she would just be a friend staying over night for a long time, and that eventually she would inevitably overstay her welcome.

Having made it to the park without making a final decision Dani continued to debate with herself while sitting on a swing. With no one around it made a good place to make an important decision.

"There you are." someone said out of Dani's line of sight causing her to nearly transform to defend herself. Thankfully she turned to see who it was before turning to see that it was Hermione. "You've been gone for a while so I figured I come check on you."

"Um, right." was Dani's reply unsure what to say about that. "How did you know I would be here?"

"I asked Mum and Dad. They said that you like to come here sometimes."

Well that would explained that "Um. right. What do you want?" Dani said trying her hardest to make it sound not rude.

Apparently taking it well Hermione answered "When you left you had this odd look. And I was just a bit worried."

Sighing Dani replied "Thanks Hermione. But I just need to think a bit." Dani saw that Hermione did get the hint. "Alone."

Ignoring Danielle's request Hermione suggested "You know if you have something on your mind you could always talk to me about it."

"Not really." Dani said turning away.

Feeling concerned Hermione pressed on "Come on now. I'm sure I can help with anything you have on your mind."

"I don't think so..."

"Well we wouldn't know unless you said something."

"I said no!" Dani finally snapped. Every thing bubbling to the surface at once in the form of anger Dani continued to yell at the older girl. "You don't know _anything_ about me! Who are you to say anything Miss Strait-laced-know-it-all!" Before long Danielle stopped yelling with tears threatening to spill over.

For a moment neither spoke until Hermione spoke up now upset as well. "I would know at least something if you would tell me anything! I was only trying to help!"

Tears now rolling down her cheeks Dani replied "You just want to help? Fine. See if you can help with the fact that the one person I have ever called 'Father' saw me and my brothers as nothing more than objects! Tools to use to get what he wants, stepping stones for his goals! help me figure out why I ran away from the only person ever to care about me! Help me..." she paused to catch her breath, loosing a lot of her fire in the process. "Help me to trust people enough to have a family."

To Dani's surprise Hermione embraced her in a comforting hug. Not knowing what else to do Dani simply sobbed into her shoulder having lost all control over herself. After several minutes holding the sobbing girl in her arms, sympathetic tears of her own threatening to fall, Hermione said "I am so sorry."

"No." Dani said as she pulled away wiping away her tears. "You have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault my past is so messed up."

Another awkward pause came between them before Hermione said "Now that its out in the open... would you like to talk about it?" She hopped she didn't just cross a line.

Drained of emotions for the time being, Dani nodded "I guess."

The two sat down under a nearby tree before Hermione asked "You said you had a father? I thought you didn't remember your family."

"Thats what you get for assuming." Dani said with a slight laugh. "And he wasn't really my father, not really. The Fruit-loop is a person that I doubt knows what it is to love another thing." she said with a scowl before her expression turned down cast. "And before you ask, my brothers are... No longer around."

"Oh." Hermione replied having been about to ask about that. Instead she asked "Um, who was the other person you talked about?"

"Right. He's my cousin, or at least thats what we called each other. He's the reason I'm still alive today, and where I get my last name 'Fenton'."

"I see. Why didn't you stay with him?" Hermione asked before quickly adding "If you don't mind me asking."

"Good question." Dani replied. "I didn't want to cause him trouble. In any case he's the reason I got away from Vlad in the first place."

"Vlad?"

"My 'Father'." Dani replied embarrassed by the slip. "Because of Vlad, I think I forgot how to truly trust someone else." Dani said shocking herself at the revelation.

"You can trust me." Hermione said. "You can trust my parents...No, our parents. We will not hurt you like he did. I promise."

"Thanks. I appreciate the sentiment." Dani said even as a smile spread across her face.

"Excuse me ladies." said a voice breaking the comfortable silence and drawing the girls attention to a scraggly looking man walking towards them. "I was wondering if you could help me find a lost puppy?"

The question raised all kinds of alarm bells in Dani's head and she hoped Hermione's smarts covered situations like this.

"I'm sorry sir." Hermione began. "We would love to help but we're due home now. If we see anything we'll be sure to tell you." Hermione then helped Danielle up and they started to leave the man behind.

"But... Wait, I'll make it worth your while..." the man began.

"If you say you 'got candy' I'll make you sing soprano. Back off!" Dani said aggressively before continuing on her way.

"Wha? Why you little..." The man rushed forward grabbing Dani by the shoulder and Hermione by the wrist. Dani moved the instant she registered that the man had a hold of her, she rammed her elbow into the man's forearm forcing him to let go in the same movement she raised her leg to slam the heel of her right foot into the mans jaw. As the man recoiled Dani idly took notice that the mans right hand was smoking slightly, but couldn't care as both she and Hermione started to run.

The man was tougher than he let on. He quickly recovered and caught up with the fleeing girls grabbing Hermione my the hair forcing Dani, who had drawn ahead, to turn back to attack the man. A kick to the kidney forced the man to let go of Hermione, but he then turned around and struck Dani hard enough to send her sprawling. Dani could feel her eyes burn green as she started to get up, and she new that unless she changed things were going down hill quick.

As she started to reach for that part of her that wasn't quite human an other voice grabbed her attention. "Don't move or I'll put a bloody bullet through your head!"

Looking up Dani knew that it was to good to be true. Yet there it was, a police officer holding the man down, with a knee in the back and night stick across the throat.

"Are you ok?" asked the second officer looking over Dani with concern.

After that everything went by extremely fast. An ambulance came to check over the girls for injures which Hermione was unscathed and Dani had a slight cut from when the man had struck her, luckily it didn't require stitches. By the time the paramedics finished looking them over Mr. and Mrs. Granger had came speeding in to collect the girls. Not before smothering both in protective hugs and kisses.

"Thank God you're both safe!" Elsa almost sobbed with William trying to keep her from breaking down.

"It was thanks to Dani, actually." provided Hermione still shaking slightly from the experience. "She reacted faster than I could even blink, its because of her that we were able to get away long enough for the police to come in."

"Where did they come from anyway?" Dani asked off handedly.

"We were walking a beat when we saw you two try to escape." answered the police officer that had tackled the creep as he walked up to the family. "You have some good reaction young lady."

"Thanks." Dani answered embarrassed.

Turning to William and Elsa the officer said "The creep will be going to prison after we get him check out of the hospital, you have my word on that."

"Why would he need to go there?" Dani asked. "I didn't think I hit him that hard."

This earned a laugh from the officer as he answered "He has a nasty burn on his hand." This caused Mr. and Mrs Granger to shoot quick glances at Hermione. "Something like that needs to be taken care of or he risk infection, and we want him to stoop in a cell for a nice long time."

"Thank you Officer." William said shanking the policeman's hand.

"Of corse Sir. Ma'am." The officer nodded to William and Elsa before walking off.

"Now lets get home and get this whole ordeal behind us." William suggested to the agreement of everyone. As she was escorted to the car that William and Elsa arrived in Dani felt a nice warm feeling in her chest. As the car started on its short drive home, Dani figured she could stay a bit longer.

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**OK. About that argument…. I will be the first one to admit that I find writing arguments hard, so if it seems forced…. Sorry. And note that I wrote this chapter in the week time span that the poll is still up so the next thing will probably be about AAOR. **


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